When we talk about the most popular romantic comedy franchises of all time, surely more than one will mention “Kaguya-sama: Love is War“And that’s no surprise considering the work managed to establish a very compelling initial idea: two geniuses in love competing to make the other declare themselves first.”

With each new chapter, readers expected to see progress in the relationship of these two, Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane, until eventually Shirogane lost the battle by declaring his love for Kaguya during the school festival, and they established themselves as a couple. But, as Professor Rumiko Takahashi once said, “there is no work that works after confession,” and “Kaguya-sama: Love is War” was no exception.

Although Aka Akasaka, the author of the work, knew how to keep the readers' interest even after the confession with the "Ice Kaguya Arc"where Kaguya and Miyuki strip themselves emotionally to accept themselves as they truly are, Eventually, the narrative quality of the work declined rapidly until the final arc of the plot.where many things were resolved “just because” and the fans’ opinion reached a point where they just thought that “it had already gone on too long”.

Precisely for this reason, the third season and the film “Kaguya-sama: Love is War – The First Kiss That Never Ends” are so popular and extremely valued among the fan community, as they cover the best story arcs of the original work. But of course, it's not that the following arcs didn't have memorable moments, it's just that as a whole they didn't match the quality of the previous ones.

And that's exactly what netizens discussed on a popular Reddit forum, Almost two years since the conclusion of the manga “Kaguya-sama: Love is War”, what did the author fail to do?

• «For me, the Christmas arc is definitely the highlight of the series. The way the characters take a bit of the comedy out of the way to show how damaged Shirogane and Kaguya are by acting the way they did in the first half of the series is great. The series never quite recaptured the comedy of the first half or the drama of that arc for me later on. If they continue with the anime, I really hope they can improve on some of the weaker elements of the second half.».
• «Yes, the Christmas arc was Kaguya-sama: Love is War at its peak, and the series never quite managed to recapture that drama in the second half. However, I don't agree with the comedy; personally, the funniest episodes of the series were right after the Christmas arc.».
• «The last third of the manga felt more like a well-written fanfic to me, and I would have preferred something more grounded than what they did with the Shinomiyas. However, I still like it.».
• «To be fair, the author did make a disclaimer at some point saying the story was over and that they were just going to finish each character's story; though I have to admit I don't remember if that was before or after what you said. But yes, it was clear to me that they just wanted to finish and focus on something else; it seemed like working on Kaguya-sama was very tiring.».
• «Everything that came after the Hayasaka Arc was in decline. But that's normal in a manga.».
• «If you learn Chinese and take a look at his community (and the Taiwanese one), you'll see that they hated the mid-story ending so passionately that they even wanted to hunt down Aka Akasaka in Apex Legends, the game he plays.».
• «Tsubame has done nothing wrong and is one of the best written characters in the series.».
• «I really don't understand why people think Tsubame is a bad person just for being honest and rejecting the best character in the entire series.».
• «The hatred for Tsubame confuses me deeply. She literally rejected him in the least harsh way possible, debunking the rumors about him and preventing him from being seen as an outcast at school.».
• «Kaguya forcing Iino to reconcile with Osaragi is the most toxic thing she's done in the series. What's worse is that the way she treats Ishigami can be harsh but fair, but I didn't feel any of that in that chapter; I felt like she was angry with Iino and on Osaragi's side.».
• «This chapter made me angry. In fact, I lost interest in the series a bit after that, seeing how Osagari's psychotic actions were just dismissed as "girl things." It was a bit insulting, actually.».
• «The Iino-Osaragi arc was terribly written to be honest, even worse than the Shinomiya Family arc, and it interrupted the whole "Iino playing games to get closer to Ishigami" arc. It made me think less of Kaguya because of the way she sided with Osaragi instead of Iino, under the flimsy pretense that Iino needed to grow up.».
• «The Shinomiya Family Arc was beyond disappointing and the last quarter of the manga was actually rushed by Aka so he could shift his focus to Oshi no Ko».
• «I tend to group the Hayasaka arc in the ride with the final Shinomiya arc as a bad thing.».
• «Speaking of the last arc, I think it would have been better if Shirogane had been captured by Shinomiya instead of Kaguya, and Kaguya had to save him. This would have reinforced the idea that Kaguya was openly opposing her family, rather than being a damsel in distress. And yes, I get it, Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a parallel, no matter. This is Kaguya Shinomiya's story, not Princess Kaguya's, so they shouldn't be treated the same way.».
• «I don't mind the open ending of the Ishimiko ship, but I hate the open ending of Chika's love life (especially when there was a chapter where something was established between her and Mikado, and there's always the Hayasaka ship that could have also occurred)».
• «Speaking of Ishimiko's freight, all that shit with Osaragi was really, really bad. It's probably my least favorite story arc of the series. It felt so out of place to me. Why would she date the guy from the cheerleading squad during the cultural festival and the Christmas arc if she was actually in love with Ishigami?».
• «Contrary to many comments, I actually like the later parts of the series. Seriously, I don't dislike any part of the story.».
• «The manga was great from start to finish. In fact, I think it just got better and better. I never understood the hatred for the arcs that came after First Kiss wa Owaranai; for me, they're as good, if not better, than the rest of the series. My only complaint is that Akasaka rushed the ending and left out some plot threads.».
• «After the school trip, Hayasaka became a lost character. Considering how funny he was in his little cosplay episode, I wish we could see more of his comedic side.».
• «The way Shirogane moves to America is horrific. It's the only reason the confession happens, and it's treated seriously at the time. But once the move happens, it's as if nothing happened since they put his face on TV. I wish Shirogane wasn't in any more episodes after that until the end.».
• «Retroactively, thanks to the arcs that followed, the Ishigami Sports Festival arc sends a terrible message to fans with its treatment of Ootomo, the true victim of the Ishigami incident. It's true that the arc's resolution strengthens Ishigami, but keeping poor Ootomo in the dark about Ogino's true nature and portraying her as an "ungrateful and clumsy fool," as fans like to paint her, because of how she would treat the person she considers the one who scared and hit her "good and loving" boyfriend in the past, left me irritated with the way the subject was handled, especially afterward. The fact that Ootomo never matured after the incident and continued searching for Ogino when she visited Shuuchiin, thanks to Ishigami's stubborn (and incredibly hypocritical) insistence that he didn't know the truth "to preserve his innocent smile," horrified me for the poor girl.».
• «Honestly, I think the final chapters and arcs, including Osaragi's fight with Miko and the final arc as a whole, are fantastic and more than live up to the story that precedes them.».

Source: reddit